The Libreria Podcast: Recent Episodes
Libreria Bookshop
Libreria, a bookshop by Second Home, is an independent bookshop in Shoreditch, London. We help you discover new books and ideas to encourage interdisciplinary thinking. In the shop, we curate our books to maximise serendipity – our shelves are arranged according to broad themes like 'Wanderlust', ‘Enchantment for Disenchanted’ and ‘The City’, so you’re constantly encountering titles you might not have come across otherwise.
In this podcast, Libreria's curator Paddy Butler does the same for your ears – interviewing with some of our favourite writers and thinkers, as well as a rundown of the latest titles at the bookshop.
In this episode Libreria welcomes Turkish writer and political thinker Ece Temelkuran, whose recent publications Together: A Manifesto Against a Heartless World and How To Lose A Country: The 7 Steps From Democracy to Dictatorship focus on fascism, rising populism, and morals in the 21st century.
In this discussion, Ece and Lloyd talk about witnessing political changes, her desire to tell the global story of the rise in populism, and the choices we can make together to overcome these challenges.
In this episode I welcome John Grindrod, author of Concretopia and Outskirts. Together with Iconicon these books form a loose trilogy about how the British have planned, built, lived and worked over the last 80 years.
During the conversation John mentions the following books and authors:
The City and The City - China Miéville Capital - John Lanchester City of the Mind - Penelope Lively
In this episode Libreria welcomes established writer and poet JJ Bola ahead of the publication of his new novel, The Selfless Act of Breathing. In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, we jump off from JJ’s recent work to discuss masculinity, purpose, searching, discovery and failure.
During the conversation, JJ cites the following books and authors:
bell hooks - The Will to Change
bell hooks - We Real Cool
Bessel van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score
Thomas E. Joiner Jr. - The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide
In this episode Libreria welcomes writer, translator and lecturer Dennis Duncan. In his new book “Index, A History of the” Dennis enthuses about how the book index came to be, its uses and abuses - featuring the classic anecdote about Norman Mailer’s vanity - and the influence of the index on the internet and Google.
In this episode Libreria welcomes two legends in psychedelic research, the award-winning author Michael Pollan and the brilliant ethnopharmacologist Dennis McKenna, as we discuss how psychoactive plants impact our brain and culture.
In this episode Libreria welcomes Brazilian writer and editor Emilio Fraia and translator Zoe Perry.
Emilio has been selected by Granta magazine as one of the best Brazilian writers of his generation, and is the first Brazilian writer to be translated into English for the New Yorker magazine.
Zoe Perry’s translation of Emilio’s Sevastopol has been published by Lolli Editions. Zoe’s translations of contemporary Portuguese-language writers have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta and Words Without Borders.
Libreria is privileged to be joined by Franco Stevens, founder of Curve magazine, which was created to offer greater visibility of the queer and lesbian community. We chatted briefly about her life, work and legacy, which is the subject of the documentary, “Ahead of the Curve”.
To learn more about The Curve Foundation’s work visit thecurvefoundation.org
Libreria is joined by Veronica O’Keane, Professor of Psychiatry and practicing Consultant Psychiatrist at Trinity College Dublin. Her book The Rag and Bone Shop distils a lifetime of practice and her understanding of memory, offering insights into psychiatry, neuroscience and literature.
Collective, the double Oscar-nominated documentary by Alexander Nanau follows a team of investigative journalists whose tireless work uncovers a shocking fraud, revealing the price of corruption and ultimately, the price of truth.
Libreria and Second Home are joined by the director and Roger and James Deakins to discuss Alexander's film and its intentions. Made possible by Magnolia Pictures, Participant and Dogwoof.
Koa Beck, former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, is joined by Katrine Marçal to discuss how capitalism’s focus on the individual is inhibiting feminism’s progress towards true equality for the collective.
Lloyd Sowerbutts is joined by Danish prize-winning author Tine Høeg and translator Misha Hoekstra, to discuss Tine's free verse novel "New Passengers", published by Lolli Editions.
Kristen Roupenian came to prominence with the publication of her story ‘Cat Person’ in the New Yorker magazine back in 2017. Having caused quite a storm it is described as the first short story to go viral. Editor of Ladybeard magazine Madeleine Dunnigan caught up with the author down the line in the US.
Today’s guest won major plaudits for his 2009 novel Let The Great World Spin winning the National Book Award in the US. He’s also been nominated for an Oscar and was awarded the prestigious Chevalier arts prize in France. But today Paddy Butler caught up with Colum McCann down the line in New York to discuss Apeirogon, a breathtaking new work.
Today’s guest is a leading light in the vanguard of experimental fiction - announcing her credentials with her 2014 novel Dept. of Speculation, this year Jenny Offill followed up with a marvellously rich and comic tour de force. Her new novel Weather etches with droll precision the thinking, breathing mind of its central character, Lizzie.
Covering anthropology, literature, art, history and our propensity to use science to dominate space and place David Farrier describes some of the binding ideas behind his new work, Footprints - In Search of Future Fossils.
Paddy Butler interviews cultural critic Uwe Schütte (down the line in Berlin), on his layered little book, Kraftwerk, Future Music from Germany. They discussed the concepts behind such killer albums as Trans Europe Express and Computer World.
Superstar curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and the enigmatic auteur, David Lynch discuss painting, unrealised projects and the uncompromising pursuit of artistic endeavour.
We go off site for this episode to enter the world of sculptor Conrad Shawcross – At his studio of wonders the artist walked us through the evolution of his ideas.
Author of Adventures in the Anthropocene and the first woman to have been awarded the Royal Society’s prize for science writing Gaia Vince, discusses her new book.
Paddy Butler catches-up with the ever engaging and brilliant linguist David Adger to discuss his much praised new book, Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power.
Curator Madeleine Dunnigan is joined by tarot card reader Shy Charles, poet Nisha Ramayya and performance artist Joseph Morgan Schofield to discuss magic in contemporary culture.
Back in October we celebrated Black History Month at Libreria welcoming authors Inua Ellams, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and founder of Libreria Ghana, Sylvia Arthur. For this podcast co-founder of Literanda Alessandra Bassey discussed African literary history with Jennifer and Sylvia.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is really making waves at present and, because of its subject matter, has opened up further important points of discussion about abusive relationships and vulnerability. Clémence Billoud of Second Home caught up with the author for a fascinating discussion.
Author of Multitudes, Lucy Caldwell and Dana Czapnik (The Falconer) were at Libreria for our New Nostalgias event back in September and we made a live recording of their chat. They discussed women writing about sport, John Updike and the last analogue generation.
For this extended episode we travelled to Marseille University to catch-up with physicist and author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli.
For this special edition filmmaker Posy Dixon and experimental musician Glenn Copeland discuss Copeland’s extraordinary creative philosophy. At 75, and on his first tour, Copeland’s pioneering ambient music of the late 70s early 80s is finally getting the recognition it thoroughly deserves.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ian Urbina cumulatively spent three years at sea documenting global injustices including trafficking, slavery and illegal fishing – the heroic author discusses his incredible book, The Outlaw Ocean.
How does our relationship with water play out in literature and what does this tell us about ourselves? Madeleine Dunnigan is joined by Sophie Mackintosh (author of The Water Cure), Lou Stoppard (writer & curator) and Edinburgh University research fellow Alexandra Campbell for the first edition of The Libreria Room.
Nell Zink, the incomparable author of Wallcreeper discusses generational discord and the effectiveness of punk as a form of protest.
Author of Let Me Not Be Mad, AK Benjamin, challenges our often narrow assumptions regarding mental health – and how institutions invariably fall short when dealing with employee welfare.
Curator Madeleine Dunnigan talks to author of Queer Intentions, Amelia Abraham and the author of Good as You, Paul Flynn about the importance of queer spaces in shaping their individual selves within the LGBTQ community
What does it mean to be human and how do we think about this in our digital age of turbo-charged capitalism? Paddy Butler speaks with the brilliantly forthright author of Clear Bright Future.
The punchiest of prose stylists talks to Paddy Butler about influences and his 2019 Booker long listed novel, Night Boat to Tangier.
Author and conceptual artist, James Bridle, joins Paddy Butler to discuss some of the luminous ideas from his magisterial, New Dark Age.
We discuss poet Carolyn Forché's fascinating new memoir, covering her journey to El Salvador in the lead up to the horrific civil war beginning in 1979. While Ellen Pearson was at the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and caught up with artist Laia Abril, whose work tackles critical women's rights issues.
Author of Pure, Rose Cartwright, chats with Michael Pollan (How to Change Your Mind). They discuss Michael's book and the perils of employing language to describe the extraordinary experience of a full blown trip.
In this episode Paddy Butler welcomes author Bernardine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other) and publisher supremo Sharmaine Lovegrove - together they discuss major issues concerning diversity in both publishing and academia.
For this extended interview Paddy Butler talks to author of American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis - they discuss some of the more surprising and hidden influences across Ellis’s work, including that of Joan Didion and Terence Malick
Paddy Butler interviews legendary Italian author Roberto Calasso about the Greek myths and the critical importance of philosopher Simone Weil. He also catches up with curator of the epic Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum. Subscribe to the podcast here.
In the latest podcast edition Paddy Butler looks at illness, empowerment and the creative process - speaking with author of Constellations, Sinéad Gleeson and co-director of Cabinet Gallery, Martin McGeown on Dada artist Antonin Artaud.
In this episode of the Libreria podcast we take a look at different aspects of creativity and the role of machines in human expression.
Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy talks to Paddy Butler about his new book on the evolution of human creativity and machine learning. While Lara Monro speaks with the curator of a new exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery, Marie Muracciole, on the legacy of the late photographer and theorist, Allan Sekula.
In this episode Libreria's Paddy Butler catches up with to two very different authors who share interesting similarities in terms of subject-matter.
Josh Cohen's non-fiction title, Not Working, looks at our overworked compressed lives and explores alternative philosophical routes to happiness. Cult author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh, discusses some of the ideas behind her darkly comic novel.